Horological instrument.



H. A. BORRESEN.

HOROLOGICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED 0506.1911.

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HELGE A. BORRESEN, or rrnnoun'r'rn, MICHIGAN..

HOROLOGICAL INSTRUIEENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 11,1916.

Original application filed November 25, 1910, Serial No. 594,168. Divided and this application filed. December To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HELGE A. BoRREsnN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Marquette, in the county of Marquette and State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Horological Instruments, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact descript on, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification. I

My invention relates to horological instruments and is more particularly of use in connection with watches and clocks and has for its object the provision of improved instrurnents of this character.

My invention contemplates the provision of positive means for guiding'the hands of such instruments to prevent interference between the hands, also in some forms the provision of concentric dials, one for each hand in cooperation with the segregated indicia for each dial.

A form of my invention further contemplates the arrangement of these dials in different planes in such a manner as to provlde unbroken hand guide tracks. This facilitates reading of the time by having the indicia radiate from a common center.

My invention is also designed-to utilize practically all of the available dial space for the numerals, and this is accomplished by virtue of certain constructions and arrangements as will presently appear.

In one of the preferred forms of my invention, I arrange the second hand of smaller size than the hour hand, and arrange the second indicia within thehour indicia, and arrange'the minute indicia surrounding the hour indicia. In this way the numerals take their position of relative importance so far as reading of time is concerned. The arrangement outlined above permits the allotment of the very smallest possible amount of space for the accommodation of the hands without entanglement thereof. By guiding all the hands, they are intimately associated with their dials and thus facilitate the correct reading of time. I provide further unbroken guide tracks for the hands and unbroken fields for the indicia of each dial.

By arranging the second hand concen- Seiial No. 664,251.

trically, I may place the winding pinion at its mostadvantageous point so far as the movement of the watch is concerned and not as hitherto in line or at right angles to the second hand arbor. This also permits me to use a one piece dial to cooperate with all the hands in their true planes. Ihis also permits me to provide interchangeable dials for hunting case or open face watches as desired. The arrangement of hands will permit the reading of illuminated dials and hands in the dark from a common center. In this manner all the indicia are segregated and uninterrupted.

In accordance with the preferred embodiment of my invention the second hand and dial is located in a plane lower than any other dial. It is of great value to have the indicia of the second hand concentrically arranged with respect to the indicia of the other hands, inasmuch as the divisional marks and numerals for seconds and minutes are the same and may be the identical same characters of design, and as they also radiate from a common center and on identical radial lines, that is, the numerals for five seconds and five minutes, for fifteen seconds and fifteen minutes, for thirty seconds and thirty minutes occupy the same radial lines. Furthermore the hour numerals occur at these very locations and it is therefore clear that the different sets of numerals serve to emphasize the loca tion of each other. It is true, likewise, that the second indicia are not the most important in the ordinary reading of a watch and therefore they should not have the prominent place at the periphery of a watch dial when they are concentrically arranged. Under these circumstances therefore it is desirable that the second hand be shorter than the hand whose indicia is read at the periphery and in order to properly safeguard the hands from interference the sec- 0nd hand should therefore be below one or both of the other hands as the case may be, so that these hands may be properly guided without interference.

I will describe my invention more in detail so that the before mentioned and other objects will be clearly outlined, and this description will be made in connection with the accompanying drawing illustrating one of the forms that my invention may take, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a watch illus trating my improved features; Fig. 2 is a rear view showing the driving features of the concentric second hand. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line cta of Fig. 2; Fig. 4c shows an improved pinion for retaining a hand, and: Figs. 5 and 6 are top and side views respectively. of an improved hand structure which is of special value in connection with the guiding features of the hands outlined.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, I show a watch 1 having a dial 2 which is shown more clearly in the section of Fig. 3. This dial has three tracks for indicia, the track 3 for the minute indicia, the track 4 for the hour indicia, and the trac: 5 for the second indicia, all concentrically arranged and in different planes as shown more clearly in Fig. 3.

I might add right here that it will, of course, be apparent that the invention herein set forth is capable of many modifications and that the specific description now being given of one form of the invention is not intended to limit the same, but that the invention is capable of whatever modifications and rearrangements are possibl within the scope of the appended claims.

The minute hand 6 is arranged upon its center arbor in such manner that the hand may ride upon the track 3. The hour hand 7 is arranged close to the track 4 so that it may also ride upon the same, and the second hand 8 is arranged to operate upon a rail 9 which guides it in its movement and against which said second hand presses slightly. The three hands are thus guided by the respective dials and by being so arranged as to work in harmony are associated with the dials preferably by exerting a slight pressure against them, to thereby prevent them from falling away therefrom and becoming entangled with each other. 'This slight resilient pressure of the various hands exerted upon their respective co-acting guide elements also further serves to maintain a movement of the various hands steadily and progressively forward and prevents the failing hitherto apparent that the hands may wabble back and forth under the influence of gravity when a trifle loose or on account of the lost play of their driving gears. The second hand, for instance, is thus prevented from moving in an irregular or jerky manner owing to lost motion between the third wheel and the concentric second pinion.

The dials themselves in the preferred form, are the guides for the hands and prevent said hands from assuming a lower position than is designed for them so they cannot press inwardly to engage the hands helow. The slight pressure of the hands against the dial is suflicient to compensate for any lost motion which would tend to elevate the hands above their respective guides or tracks. An annular rim 10 shown in Fig. 3 may also be used to prevent a hand from moving upwardly into engagement with the upper hand. As will be apparent, of course, the dials themselves need not necessarily form the guiding portions, as above outlined. In this manner the hands are positively guided and prevented from coming together. The advantage of concentrically arranging the dials permits the use of the maximum space for the indicia. Unbroken dial tracks are provided as well as positive guides for the hands throughout their entire revolution. By having the dial tracks in different planes, I am enabled to properly segregate the indicia, thereby also keeping the indicia close to the hands so that each hand may ride directly upon and over the characters which are intended for it.

I also preferably have alined indicia for the hour, half, and quarter hours of heavier characters to facilitate reading of the time in the dark, this alined indicia forming in one embodiment two lines at right angles, thus dividing the dial space into quadrants. Other subdivisions as may be required may be easily arranged for as will be clear to those skilled in the art.

In my co-pending application Serial #594,168, filed Nov. 25, 1910, of which this application is a division, I set forth my improved constructional features by means of which hands arranged as above outlined may be suitably driven. In order to provide the preferred resilient cooperation between the hand and the dial, I may employ hand ,11 of the character shown in Fig. 6, in which at a portion 12 of its length, it is widened, and as will be more clear from Fig. 5, it is also thinned at 12 so that this hand being thinned at a. certain portion of its length is capable of resilient action. The widened portion at 12 is provided to insure strength and stability. The hand 11 also has bifurcated split extremities 13 so that it may be easily inserted upon the arbor 13 to be frictionally associated therewith.

It will be apparent from what has been hitherto described that by mounting the second hand concentrically, I provide a dial which can be universally used both for open face and hunting case watches by merely rotating the dial through the necessary arc of ninety degrees. The dial in Fig. 3 is shown sloping at 14.- in order to accommodate the crystal 15, and the hand 6 may be bent to conform to this slope.

By referring more particularly to Figs. 2 and 3, I show the wheel 16 directly associated with the pinion 17 to drive the second hand. The wheel 16 is driven by the pinion 18 and through the interposition of the pinions 19, 20, and 21 is directly associated with the main spring 22. In this manner the second hand is driven directly from the third wheel of some watches, the same as wheel 16. This is the shortest and most direct drive possible from the main spring 22, and through this novel construction friction is reduced to a minimum. As well understood, friction is one of the most important and vital elements to be taken into account in watch construction and time keeping results.

It will, of course, be understood that by describing the specific embodiment set forth herein, I do not mean this as any limitation upon the broad features of my invention, as I am describing herein merely one form of carrying out my invention.

While I have therefore specifically described one form of carrying out my invention, I do not mean to limit myself to such specific structure, but claim broadly as my invention:

1. A timepiece having a dial and concentrically arranged hour, minute and second hands, said dial having indicia corresponding to said hands and said second hand be ing shorter than and operating below at least one of said other hands.

2. A timepiece having a dial and concentrically arranged hour, minute and second hands, said dial having indicia corresponding to said hands and said second hand being shorter than and operating below the hour hand.

8. A timepiece having a dial and concentrically arranged second, hour and minute hands, said dial having indicia corresponding to said hands arranged in the order named from the center of said dial toward the periphery, the second hand being shorter than any of the other two hands, and operating below both of the other hands.

4. A timepiece having a dial and concentrically arranged second, hour and minute hands, said dial having indicia corresponding to said hands arranged in the order named from the center of said dial toward the periphery, the second hand being shorter than any of the othertwo hands, and oper- Copies of ating below both of the other hands, said dial having a depressed central portion to accommodate the said second hand.

5. A timepiece having a dial and concentrically arranged second, hour and minute hands, said dial having indicia corresponding to said hands arranged in the order named from the center 01 said dial toward the periphery, the second hand being shorter 0 than any of the other two hands, and operating below both of the other hands, said dial having step-like depressions respectively for the hour and second hands, the depression for the second hand being lower than the depression for the hour hand.

6. A timepiece having a dial and concentrically arranged second, hour and minute hands, said dial having indicia correspondnamed from the center of said dial toward the periphery, the secondhand being shorter than any of the other two hands, and operating below both of the other hands, said dial having a depressed central portion to 7 accommodate the said second hand, said dial providing an unbroken guiding surface for each hand throughout its entire cycle of operations.

7. A timepiece having a 'dial and concentrically arranged second, hour and minute hands, said dial having indicia corresponding to said hands arranged in the order named from the center of said dial toward the periphery, the second hand being shorter than any of the other two hands, and operating below both of the other hands, said dial having step-like depressions respectively for the hour and second hands, the depression than the depression for the hour hand, said dial providing an unbroken guiding surface for each hand throughout its entire cycle of operations.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe 95 my name this 23rd day of November, A. D. 1911.

HELGE A. BORRESEN.

Vitnesses I'IAZEL Jones, 0. M. W'nnMrcrr.

this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents,

Washington, D. 0.

ing to said hands arranged in the order 7 for the second hand being lower 

